Assassination of Malaysian land activist must trigger immediate and impartial investigation

Global Witness is shocked and deeply saddened by the murder
of Bill Kayong, a dedicated land rights activist and member of the opposition
party in Malaysia’s Sarawak state. Kayong was reportedly
gunned down in his car yesterday morning. The campaign group is calling for
a full and impartial investigation into those behind his murder.

“The brutal slaying of land rights champion Bill Kayong
shows the risks faced by activists in Sarawak who stand up to the powerful
interests behind land grabbing and environmental devastation,” said Rick
Jacobsen of Global Witness. “This tragic killing comes the day after Global
Witness released a report
documenting the dramatic increase in the murder of activists like Kayong around
the world. The Malaysian authorities must take swift action to identify those
responsible and bring them to justice.”

Sarawak continues to be plagued by corruption, human rights
violations against indigenous communities, and environmental destruction. The
brave activists and indigenous communities speaking out against these wrongs have
too often faced repression by the government, while violence against them goes
unpunished.

Kayong was a member of indigenous NGO Persatuan Dayak
Sarawak (PEDAS) and had long been working with indigenous villagers trying to
protect their rights to their customary land after it was handed out by the Sarawak
government to an oil palm company. A village leader, Tuai Rumah Jambai, has
been subjected to repeated violent
attacks, but the Sarawak government has failed to fully investigate and
prosecute those responsible.

Sarawak’s Chief Minister Adenan Satem has made public
commitments to work constructively with civil society and crack down on illegal
activities in the State’s notoriously corrupt forestry sector, but evidence increasingly
suggests his
words are not being backed by action. His government’s reaction to this
latest tragedy will be telling.